Restaurant doubles salesmonth-over-month by staying connected…

Client Spotlight:
Hail Marys

…and makes the most of marketing during the holiday season!

Hail Mary’s Food & Drink is a fan-favorite sports bar located in Westlake, Ohio. Driven by a passion for good food and great service, the restaurant opened in early 2018, fulfilling the role of a community anchor and creating a place where people feel a sense of belonging.

In 2019, they partnered with Popmenu to bring technology into its service model, making it easier to stay visible to customers and connect with the Westlake community. In the last four and a half years, Hail Mary’s has seen continued success in the form of MoM growth in online and on-premise sales, an increased number of restaurant VIP sign-ups and social media followers, and the launch of a new concept, Salty Mary’s Oyster Bar & Tavern (opened July 2022).

“There are so many great little places that need a voice—Popmenu gives them that...Popmenu focuses on the restaurant so the restaurant can focus on the guests.”

Hail Mary’s knows the importance of staying connected and it does so through a variety of marketing channels, from email, text, and social media, to in-person and ordering events that benefit the surrounding community.

“We’re staying top-of-mind; when we send people an email or text and remind them we’re here, we don’t even have to discount, they’ll just come in [or order]. It’s about taking advantage of opportunities to [reach out]. I pay attention to national days that tie to our menu and we highlight our customers across social—it’s about bringing that community-mindedness to the digital space.”

What’s more? In early 2022, Hail Mary’s made a more intentional investment around marketing, ensuring that content and strategy were on-brand and fit with overarching business goals. Enter: Boost—Popmenu’s consultative marketing service. Now, Hail Mary’s has a partner in building an effective marketing strategy that continues to drive guest engagement and loyalty, strengthen online ordering, and implements creative and consistent content for email, text and social marketing channels.

video.

“We love Boost…it makes a huge difference in the quality of [content] that I can push out and takes some of the stress off of planning and creating. It’s been really helpful to have a partner and a bit of extra marketing support, especially when things get hectic for us.”

With the holiday season in full swing, Hail Mary’s busiest time of the year is here—and the restaurant is capitalizing on every opportunity to invite guests in. So, whether it’s a delicious picture of a fall French Onion Dip, a social media reminder to bring Hail Mary’s home for a night off from cooking, an email offering $3 brews during the big game, an event invite to the annual Christmas Cornhole Tournament fundraiser, or a tasty tease for National Pierogi Day, Mary’s makes certain that guests always know what’s going on at their favorite neighborhood bar.

Since partnering with Popmenu & Popmenu Boost

Hail Mary’s has seen a 600+ increase in Instagram followers and engagement metrics continuously in the green.
The restaurant has gained over 1,100 new guest emails and phone numbers since January.
The business has surpassed total online order revenue from 2021 with three months left in 2022!
“Being in the restaurant industry is tough…during and post-covid, if we had not had our feelers out for more technology and more ways to interact with our guests, I’m not sure what the restaurant would look like right now.”
Megan Novak
Social Media Manager, Hail Mary's Food & Drink

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Nevada brewery saves time, grows direct online ordering, and unifies multi-location operations with Popmenu and Genius.

Founded in 1993, Great Basin Brewing Company is Nevada’s oldest and most award-winning brewery, touted for its craft beer and its creative, ale-infused food unique closed-loop system (utilizing spent grain from the brewing process to feed local cattle that produce beef used back at its restaurants). When owner and director of operations Nick Meyer took over the business--and the brewery grew to four locations--he wanted to maintain consistent marketing across all locations without sacrificing their high standards. He searched for technology that would save time, increase revenue, keep up with evolving menus, and grow their online presence. He found Popmenu.

Popmenu + Genius: one menu, one ordering flow, fewer manual updates

What initially drew Nick, along with marketing director Brennan Best, to Popmenu was its seamless integration with Great Basin’s POS system Genius. Prior to Popmenu, any menu or website changes were manual and time-consuming: menus changing two to four times a year and updates across locations via various technologies, all online orders were routed through third parties, cutting into the restaurants’ profits. After choosing Popmenu, the team has saved significant time: instantaneous website changes across all channels, online orders go directly from the Popmenu platform into the Genius POS, and guests’ orders are fulfilled with less room for error.
Laptop screen shows Google search results for 'best lobster roll in Nashville' with top places listed including The Hampton Social, Krustaceans Seafood, and The Optimist, and a popup highlighting lobster roll recommendations.
In the months following the launch, Great Basin has seen an average month-over-month 11% increase in online ordering gross payment value (GPV), which is the total amount processed during transactions. During that period, they’ve also gained more than 1,000 new guest contacts (a 9% increase)—and those new followers have driven almost 75% of their orders. With Popmenu, Great Basin is capturing guest information so they can stay top of mind and continue to build a loyal customer base.

“The ability [as a result of the Popmenu integration] for our customers to order directly from our website, and for that to be less expensive for them without the additional markups for third-party delivery, has been a gamechanger for us and has really improved the experience for our guests.”

-Brennan Best
Marketing Director of Great Basin Brewing Company

Stronger communications or better SEOhappier guests

For Great Basin, technology isn’t just about efficiency–it’s about staying connected with their guests and their community. So when they had to navigate between several scattered and disparate communications tools, they weren’t able to get their message across in the meaningful, consistent way that aligns with their values.

The Popmenu platform has enabled Great Basin to unify their messaging, while still allowing each location to have its own unique voice. Within the platform, they’ve been able to customize the look and feel of each location’s landing page to convey the fact that each restaurant has a different personality.

“It's always been important for us to listen to our community, while also conveying our brand’s narrative to our community as well. The Popmenu platform has been super helpful because not only does it allow us to receive feedback from our guests, but it also enables us to respond directly to those guests.”

-Brennan Best
Marketing Director of Great Basin Brewing Company

The brewery’s SEO has also improved since integrating with Popmenu, as their website’s event inquiry page for guests looking to host onsite parties has seen a surge in traffic. Soon after Great Basin made the switch to Popmenu, location managers were trying to understand why they were seeing unprecedented levels of interest in events. As a result, they are currently booked with private parties through mid-2026.

“Popmenu’s built-in marketing tools have replaced several standalone systems, saving costs and creating consistent messaging. We were able to cut a few hundred dollars a month by consolidating tools, and now our messaging – emails, events, promotions – all run through one seamless system.”

-Nick Meyer
Director of Operations and Owner of Great Basin Brewing Company

Smooth and supported implementation

As any restaurant team can attest to, rolling out new technology across multiple locations can be daunting and challenging. But Nick, Brennan, and the entire Great Basin staff credit both Popmenu’s onboarding process and its client service reps for a smooth transition. Even launching the integration during one of Great Basin’s busiest seasons didn’t slow things down.

“We had everything running in about a week across four locations – it was one of the easiest integrations we’ve done. We even went live right before summer events, and it didn’t faze the team at all. Once everything was set, we were off and running.”

-Nick Meyer
Director of Operations and Owner of Great Basin Brewing Company

For more tips, follow Popmenu.

Want a closer look at how automation can bring in more orders while saving you time and money? Book a 20-minute, no-pressure demo with Popmenu.

We’ve got your back. Every. Day.

For more tips, follow Popmenu.

Want a closer look at how automation can bring in more orders while saving you time and money? Book a 20-minute, no-pressure demo with Popmenu.

We’ve got your back. Every. Day.